Nicole Kidman’s ‘Grace of Monaco’ Premieres Memorial Day [Video]

On Memorial Day, the new Nicole Kidman movie, Grace of Monaco, is premiering on the Lifetime Network. In the movie, Kidman plays the title role of Grace Kelly, a former actress in Hollywood, turned real-life Princess after her marriage to Prince Rainier III. The movie also stars Frank Langella as Father Francis Tucker, Tim Roth as Prince Rainier III, Parker Posey as Grace’s aide Madge and Paz Vega as the opera singer Maria Callas.

Grace of Monaco is set in 1962, six years after the marriage of the prince and Kelly. The story follows a difficult period of time in the life of the princess as she struggles with the decision to end her career in acting, alongside a tumultuous time in Monaco. This crisis also comes as issues in her marriage arise and they have her questioning her future, all of this while her husband is dealing with political issues from France’s Charles de Gaulle.

The movie originally premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2014. It received a lot of negative reviews at the time, plus it has had to deal with drama both on and off the screen. The Kidman-led biopic was originally scheduled to release in late 2013 and was then pushed back into the spring of 2014. Following its original release date being pushed back, Grace of Monaco’s release date was pushed out indefinitely.

At the time of the festival, the royal family in Monaco made their objections to the movie known. In fact, in their statement the family said that the trailer for the movie appeared to be a farce, and that this proved that the film was completely fictional in its nature.

Kidman responded to this by saying that she was saddened by this statement and that the movie was not intended to direct any malice towards the family, in particular the prince or princess. As she pointed out, the film is a fictionalization of the truth and that this means dramatic license is therefore taken.

Following much of the drama, Kidman’s Grace of Monaco was picked up by the Lifetime network with a set release date of Memorial Day in 2015. This premiere aligns with the network as much of its content is centered around strong female characters. In fact, Grace of Monaco will align well with other previous biopics that have aired on Lifetime recently such as the one’s about Elizabeth Taylor, Whitney Houston and Brittany Murphy.

Although the movie has never made a theatrical release, Lifetime is not only giving the movie a chance, it has embraced the film. With the movie finding a home on the network, Grace of Monaco easily fits into Lifetime’s goal of providing entertainment that is high quality and female centric.

For viewers looking to see Kidman in her portrayal of Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco, the Lifetime premiere is Memorial Day, May 25 at 9 PM EST. Prior to the premiere, viewers can spend their day watching a number of movies such as Made of Honor, Two Weeks Notice and The Last Song.